"Rich Men North of Richmond" by Oliver Anthony

Submission 7,737

About

"Rich Men North of Richmond" by Oliver Anthony is a country song performed by American musician and singer Oliver Anthony. After a video of Anthony singing the song was posted to YouTube in August 2023, it quickly gained virality and acclaim from many (particularly American conservatives), specifically for lyrics that seemingly referenced Jeffrey Epstein's Island. The song went to number 1 on the U.S. iTunes all genres chart within days, spreading via reaction videos and TikTok videos.

Origin

On August 8th, 2023, American country music singer Oliver Anthony, whose real name is Christopher Lunsford,^[14] released his song "Rich Men North of Richmond."^[1] On the same day, the YouTube^[2] channel radiowv uploaded a video of Anthony performing the song, gaining over 9.7 million views and 548,000 likes in six days (shown below).

On August 10th, Anthony then posted the video to X,^[3] gaining roughly 23.1 million views and 133,600 likes in four days (shown below).

Spread

As the song went viral, conservative pundits began quote retweeting it, spreading it to their audiences. For instance, on August 10th, 2023, political commentator Matt Walsh wrote in a post on X,^[4] "It’s a great song. Congratulations," gaining roughly 6,400 likes in four days (shown below, left). On August 11th, Marjorie Taylor Greene praised the song in an X^[5] reply, receiving roughly 4,700 likes in three days (shown below, right).

The song gained viral TikTok^[6]^[7] videos during the same timeframe. On YouTube, channels started to post reaction videos to the song, such as YouTubers^[8] CartierFamily on August 13th, 2023, gaining roughly 304,400 views in one day (shown below, left). Also on August 13th, YouTuber^[9] ThatSingerReactions posted a similar reaction video, gaining roughly 62,200 views in one day (shown below, right).

Additionally, the song started to receive news coverage during the same period.^[10]^[11] Also on August 13th, Joe Rogan posted Anthony's video to his Instagram,^[12] gaining roughly 747,400 likes in one day.

Industry Plant Accusations

Soon after Oliver Anthony's song went viral on the internet in mid-August 2023, various commentators began to speculate about the possibility of him being an industry plant, with some noting that it is typically very hard to generate the degree of publicity he has received off one song.

On August 14th, 2023, X^[13] user @TheMagaHulk posted a thread drawing connections between Oliver Anthony and marketing executive Jason Howerton. He theorized that Anthony's song was an astroturfed conservative campaign created by Howerton's media company Reach Inc. The post gathered over 1,000 likes in a day (seen below).

On August 16th, X^[15] user @badspaceguy made a post claiming to have found evidence that Oliver Anthony, real name Christopher Lunsford, actually worked a sales desk job for a construction company in the Richmond suburbs, and also owns a sizable plot of land.

Diversity Comments

On August 22nd, Anthony said in an interview with Fox News that he believed diversity was America's strength and should not be used as a tool to divide its people. This led some conservatives to turn on him, to the amusement of those on the left.